Is "Il va leur téléphoner." the same as " Il va téléphoner à eux."?
In other words, can a sentence written with indirect object pronouns be replaced by one with stress pronouns?
Is "Il va leur téléphoner." the same as " Il va téléphoner à eux."?
In other words, can a sentence written with indirect object pronouns be replaced by one with stress pronouns?
Bonjour Guilherme,
Unfortunately it isn’t possible. You do not write or say: il va téléphoner à moi / toi / lui etc.
‘Il va leur téléphoner’ is the same as ‘il va téléphoner à + [persons’ names] :
→ Il va téléphoner à Marc et Julie
→ Il va téléphoner aux enfants
→ Il va téléphoner à eux
It is similar with 'demander à [qqn]' = to ask [sb]
Here is a link on stress pronouns: common-uses-of-moi-toi-lui-elle-nous-vous-eux-elles-disjunctivestress-pronouns
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !
@Guilherme, You are right that ‘penser à’ doesn’t work the same. ‘Penser à [sb]’ is part of a list of verbs with which you can’t replace ‘à + noun’ with an indirect object pronoun. Instead you use a stress pronoun:
- Je pense à Sophie → je pense à elle
I think about Sophie → I think about her
- Je m’adresse à mes amis → je m’adresse à eux
I speak to my friends → I speak to them
Similar verbs: penser à, aller à, avoir affaire à, être à (= to belong to [sb]), recourir à, se fier à, faire attention à, s'adresser à, s’intéresser à etc.
Usually, in French, ‘à + noun’ is replaced by an indirect object pronoun:
- Je parle à Charles → je lui parle (je parle à lui)
I talk to Charles → I speak to him
- Je téléphone à Charles et Marie→Je leur téléphone (je téléphone à eux)
I call Charles and Marie→ I call them
- J’écris à Laura → je lui écris (j’écris à elle)
I write to Laura→ I write to her
See list of verbs: verbs-with-a
I hope this is helpful and that it is less confusing than my previous answer.
Bonne journée !
Sorry, but I am still confused because one of the examples in that lesson is "Il pense à elle", with elle being a stress pronoun.
So why is it that in the case of "téléphoner à qqn" we can not use a stress pronoun? Is it an exception?
[Note: in one answer about "structures such as 'écrire à qqn', 'téléphoner à qqn'", Laura mentions that "Indirect object pronouns do not follow écrire à and téléphoner à. Once there's a preposition involved that precedes the pronoun, you automatically need the stressed pronoun."]
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